Many types of computer systems can operate software programs that include a conventional graphical user interface (GUI) that allows a user of the computer system to manage, control and configure various types of hardware and software resources. The graphical user interface may allow, for example, a user of the computing system to interact with the computing system and its associated software applications, filesystem(s), data, devices and/or peripherals. Some conventional programs, generally called management applications, provide a graphical user interface that allows management and control over computer system and device resources via a visual representation of the resources on the graphical user interface. Resources that may be controlled or managed graphically in this manner can include local computer system resources, as well remote computer system or other device resources that can communicate with the management application via a communications network.
The graphical objects or representations within a graphical user interface are called “icons”. A user of a graphical user interface can manipulate and select icons which represent the resources in order to control or manage the resources in some manner. For example, a graphical user interface may display a printer icon that represents a printer attached to either the local or to a remote computer system. A user of the graphical user interface can select the printer icon by using an input device such as a mouse. When the user clicks a button on the mouse while selecting the printer icon using the mouse pointer on the graphical user interface shown on the computer's display, the graphical user interface might, for example, produce a pull-down menu that lists printer management functions that can the user can select to operate the printer. An example of a management function is a function to take the printer online or offline, or for making the printer available for use by others (e.g., sharing the printer on a network).
The Windows series of operating systems (e.g., Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, collectively referred to herein as Windows), manufactured by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Wash., U.S.A., provides various application programs that include one or more graphical user interfaces that operate in the manner discussed above. Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT and Windows 2000 are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Generally, Windows provides access to a computing system via a graphical representation of the computing system called a desktop. The Windows desktop allows a user of the computer system to navigate and manage file systems contained within one or more storage devices (e.g., disks) associated with the computing system. Limited device management is also provided via the Windows desktop and associated Windows applications that provide graphical user interfaces for such management functions. One example of a software application included with Windows that provides such file system and device management capabilities via a graphical user interface is the Windows Explorer application program.
A user can use Windows Explorer to view and graphically navigate and manage certain resources associated with the computer system operating the Windows operating system. To do so, the left side of the graphical user interface within Windows Explorer provides a hierarchical and graphical representation of resources related to the computing system. For example, Windows Explorer can represent directories on disk(s) accessible to the computer system as a hierarchical arrangement of folder icons on the left side of the Windows Explorer graphical user interface. Each folder icon in the hierarchy represents a directory on the disk containing files and/or other folders (i.e., subdirectories). A user can click or double-click a folder icon in the hierarchy to open or close that folder. If the folder is already open, a user click causes the GUI to close that folder.
In response to a user clicking a folder icon to “open” that folder in the hierarchy, Windows Explorer redisplays the folder icon in the hierarchy on the left side of the GUI to appear as an “open” folder icon and modifies the hierarchy to include a display of any sub-folders icons that exist hierarchically below or “within” the open folder. In addition, on the right side of the Windows Explorer graphical user interface, Windows Explorer displays icons a list of any files or folders that exist within the selected folder in the hierarchy from the left side of the graphical user interface. If the user continues to navigate the file system by selecting folders in the left side hierarchy, each new selection of a folder causes Explorer to further open or “expand” any folders below the selected folder on the left side hierarchy of the graphical user interface, and replaces the list of files of folders on the right side of the graphical user interface with a list of the contents of the selected folder. In other words, each time a new folder is selected in the left side hierarchy, the graphical user interface expands (in the case of opening a closed folder) or collapses (in the case of closing an already open folder) the left side hierarchy with respect to that folder and replaces the right side list of the display with the contents of the selected folder.
Many graphical user interface based applications such as Windows Explorer allow a user to elect to arrange a list of icons that the graphical user interface displays according to certain pre-defined user selectable views. For example, the user may elect to have a graphical user interface based application display icons alphabetically, or by creation date, by size, by author, or by another display criteria. If a user elects to arrange a view of icons based on one of these attributes, Windows Explorer displays the sorted list of icons according to the user selected attribute (e.g., size, date, etc.) within the GUI display.
Graphical user interface based applications that provide users with the ability to manage computer system resources typically provide such functionality via a series of pull down menus having associated functions listed within the menus. For example, Windows Explorer provides pull-down menu choices such as “File” and “Edit.” A user can select a folder or file as discussed above and can then pull down, for example, the Edit menu and select a copy function. Upon doing so, the Windows Explorer program makes a copy of the selected file. The user can then select this copy of the file and can drag-and-drop the copy, for example, to another folder that is visible on the graphical user interface display, causing the Windows Explorer program to move the copy of the file from the selected location to the destination folder where the user dragged the icon. Some applications provide graphical user interfaces which provide a row of icons for various functions. A user can select an icon for a function and the function will be carried out upon, or applied to, the particular resource that the user has selected. In the Macintosh computer system operating the MacOS operating system manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., U.S.A., users are allowed to select multiple items within a selection window and can apply a single function to the items which results in producing a separate respective window for each item selected to show or convey the results of applying that function to the item associated with that window.